Qualcomm plots server chip exit

Qualcomm plots server chip exit

Qualcomm plots server chip exit. Qualcomm is preparing to give up its push to develop processors for data-center servers, an effort that sought to break Intel's hold on the market,

sources told Bloomberg. Qualcomm is now exploring whether to shutter the unit or look for a new owner for the division, which was based on servers powered by CPUs of ARM Holdings. Read more here.

Qualcomm is the largest backer of an effort to find a role for ARM designs in the highest end of the computing market, where individual chips sell for multiple thousands of dollars. Chipmakers have been trying for years to provide owners of large data centers

A Qualcomm spokesman declined to comment. In the company’s earningsreport last month, Chief Executive Officer Steve Mollenkopf told analysts that Qualcomm is focused on spending reductions in its non-core product areas.

Servers, which crunch data in corporate networks and act as the backbone of the internet, are a much smaller market than phones and personal computers when measured by shipments. But the price that chipmakers are able to charge for the high-performance parts needed to run them makes the market attractive.

Qualcomm began selling a server chip, the Centriq 2400, based on ARM technology last year. At the time, the company said the chips, which were manufactured by Samsung Electronics Co., offered better results than an Intel Xeon Platinum 8180 processor,